CSOMA DE KŐRÖS, Alexander (Kőrösi Csoma Sándor). Kőrös, Kovászna, Transylvania (now Chiuruş, Covasna in Romania) 27.3.1784 — Darjeeling 11.4.1842. Hungarian Tibetologist, in Ladakh and India 1822-42. Born of poor parents, András Csoma, a peasant and soldier, and Krisztina Getse (Ilona Göcz), belonging to the military nobility known as Székely (Sicules). Birth…
CROOKE, William. Macroom, co. Cork 6.8.1848 — Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 25.10.1923. British (Irish) Civil Servant and Anthropologist in India. Eldest son of Warren Crooke (1814–1896), M.D., of an originally English family long resident in Ireland, and Elizabeth Pyne Lindsey. Educated at the grammar school in Tipperary, studied at Trinity College in…
CORBIN, Henry (born Henri Eugène Corbin). Paris 14.4.1903 — Paris 7.10.1978. French Philosopher, Theologian and Scholar of Iranian Religion and Islam. Son of Henri Arthur Corbin and Eugénie Fournier (d. 1903), grew up with an aunt. Born in a Protestant family, but had catholic education. Studied philosophy in Paris (degree…
COPLESTON, Reginald Stephen. Barnes, London 26.12.1845 — Wandsworth, London 19.4.1925. Rev. British Priest in Sri Lanka and India. Son of Rev. Reginald Edward Copleston, of Barnes, Surrey. Educated at Merchant Taylor’s school, studies from 1864 at Exeter College, Oxford (B.A. 1869). In 1870-75 Fellow of St. John College. M.A. 1871,…
COOMARASWAMY, Ananda Kentish (Kumārasvāmi). Colombo 22.8.1877 — Needham, MA 9.9.1947. Sri Lankan/British Art Historian and Indologist in the U.S.A. Son of Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy (1834–1879, a noted Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer and statesman) and Elizabeth Clay Beeby (1851–1939, she came from Kent, therefore “Kentish”), lost early his father and grew…
CONZE, Edward (Eberhard Julius Dietrich Conze). Forest Hill (London) 18.3.1904 — Yeovil, Somerset 24.9.1979. British (German-born) Indologist and Buddhist Scholar. Son of Ernst Conze (1872–1935), a lawyer, and Adelaide Louise Charlotte Köttgen (1882–1962). Born in England where his father was German Vice-Consul (he was thus entitled to British citizenship). Studies…
CONIO, Caterina. Santo Stefano al Mare (Liguria) 1929 — Milano 1996. Italian Indologist. Daughter of a bank director, grew up in Florence. Graduated 1964 from Catholic University of Milano. Further studies at Banaras Hindu University (T. R. V. Murthy) and Münster (Hacker). From 1974 until death taught Indian religion and…
COLLINS, Richard. Bicker, Lincolnshire 20.10.1828 — Kirkburton, Yorkshire 30.10.1900. Rev. British Missionary of Church Missionary Society in India and Sri Lanka. Son of Rev. Richard Collins (1794–1882), later vicar of Kirkburton, and his wife Mary. Studies at St.John’s College, Cambridge (M.A. 1851). Ordained as deacon 1851, as priest 1853. In…
COLLINS, Georges François Guillaume Jean Jacques. Lyon 2.2.1825 — Vichy 17.6.1882. French Protestant Priest and Scholar of History of Religion. In 1845-49 studies in Geneva, bachelier en théologie Strasbourg 1849 and soon ordained as priest. Served as minister in Clermont-Ferrand (1850-61) and Besançon (1861-65), then for the Huguenot (Walloon) congregation…
COLINET, Philémon. Alost (Aalst) 2.3.1853 — Sleydingen 3.12.1917. Belgian Indologist, Linguist and Scholar of Religion. Professor in Louvain (Leuven). Son of Felix Joannes Colinet, a smith, and Maria Theresia Jolie. In 1877-82 student at Seminary of Ghent, in 1882 ordained as priest. In 1881-84 studied Oriental languages at Louvain under…